Why do restaurants close? Is it a cursed location, or rents that are too high, or changes that confuse diners?

No doubt all these things come into play. I do think the exorbitant parking fees at One Arts Plaza probably puts many diners off; meanwhile, high rent makes any business a challenge.

But there’s a much more elemental reason restaurants fail: They’re not working. The menu at the Greek was too timid, and the commercial pita bread it served was terrible. It’s the Arts District, for crying out loud — let’s not have moussaka be the most exotic dish at a Greek restaurant there, one that feels cold and corporate. Cafe des Artistes, in trying to appeal to everyone with its “Cali-Euro inspired menu” appealed to no one — at least no one I know. The service was largely unprofessional, the wine list a depressing, overpriced document and little care was taken with the food. The dining room looked like a bordello — and not even a nice one.

An escolar roll at Toko V

And the two restaurants at Highland Park Village? I think they failed because they gave their Park Cities diners what the restaurateurs imagined the diners wanted, rather than something that came from the heart of the very talented chef, Andre Natera. The menu at Village Kitchen, as I wrote in my review, was emphatically conformist. At Toko V, the dishes were mostly same-old, same-old Asian fusion. When I fact-checked my December review of Toko V, the management told me the menu was based on what customers were saying they wanted — including escolar (which can cause gastrointestinal disturbances), bluefin tuna (which is headed toward extinction) and a panoply of sticky-sweet sauces and yuzu-drenched concoctions.

Consistency in execution was a problem at all four places, but I feel that more than anything, the problem was that these restaurants felt like they were more about making money than making something delicious to eat that we haven’t eaten a million times before. The one thing missing from all of them was originality. Which isn’t to say simple food can’t be great — it absolutely can. But if simple food is going to be great, it has to be, you know, great.

With the pace of openings having reached such a frenzy in the past year, it won’t be surprising if we see more closings in the next six months or so. With so many restaurants to choose from, Dallas diners wield more and more power with their dining dollars. And more and more, they’re demanding something authentic, something unusual, something real, something from the heart. Give us something cynical, and no, we won’t bite. At least not for long.
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The Greek — Pita, Meze, Wine will be replaced with a new restaurant "soon," says a spokesman.

The Greek — Pita, Meze, Wine is the latest culinary casualty at One Arts Plaza in the Dallas Arts District. Several One Arts restaurants have been plagued with spotty business since the development opened.

The general manager at Jorge’s says their business is still strong. “We’ve been here in One Arts Plaza for five years now,” says GM Ignacio Cubillos. He added that the Greek’s closure will not affect Jorge’s business.

One Arts will announce two new restaurants — one local, one national — “soon,” says spokesman Hamilton Sneed. Those two restaurants will replace the Greek and Cafe des Artistes. “Our hope is the local and national operators will be here for many years to come,” Sneed says.

The owners of the Greek did not immediately return a phone call, but I will update this story if they do.

Jason Kosmas makes a white negroni at the Village Marquee Grill and Bar last year. He's got his hands full this year with his new spirits company.

Bartender Jason Kosmas hasn’t been tending bar for a while because he’s too busy tending to his wildly ascendant spirits partnership, the Eighty Six Co., which he launched with Dushan Zaric and Simon Ford last fall. He’s doing some cocktail consulting, too. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

The Eighty Six Co. bottles were designed by and for bartenders.

Bottle buzz: The current issue of Playboy includes a full-page spread on the ergonomic 86 Co. bottles designed specifically to meet bartenders’ needs. Say what? One bartender suggested “a ridge on the neck to keep fingers from slipping during a two-bottled pour.” A female bartender suggested an “indentation to accommodate smaller hands” on the wider-than-standard 1-liter bottles. Kosmas contributed the idea for a ruler that shows how much you have left in the bottle without just guessing. (The empty bottle’s great “to premix cocktails for parties.”)

But what about what’s in the bottles, which includes tequila, rum, gin and vodka? That’s what caught New York Times writer Robert Simonson‘s attention, writing about rum in the May issue of Saveur: “For me, 86 Co.’s Cana Brava, a Panamanian rum, has enough lightness, as well as an intriguingly gamey flavor, to make a balanced daquiri.” Simonson also wrote about the spirits in the New York Times earlier this year. Playboy is more succinct: “We can attest that the resulting spirits make damn fine drinks.”

Jason Kosmas' El Greco at The Greek, made with ouzo and mandarin puree.

Meanwhile, Kosmas pays homage to his Greek heritage with the cocktail list at The Greek in One Arts Plaza. He draws on Greek spirits and wines for drinks like El Greco, an eye-popping citrus fandango made with tequila, mandarin puree, honey syrup, lime juice and ouzo. For others, he uses Mextaxa 5 star, an aromatic amber spirit from Greece, and Kyklos Moscofilero, a wine made from the aromatic grape of the same name (moscofilero) that grows in the AOC region of Mantinia in the Peloponnese.

The cocktails we tasted at a recent media event were balanced (blessedly not too sweet), refreshing and tasty.

The Greek food menu was quite a head-turner, too. Of course, chef-owner Costa Arabatzis was doing the cooking for our table. The hit of the night – and all parties suggested he make this a regular feature – a literal plank that was laid down the center of the communal table with some of the new entrees on it: lamb chops and polenta (cribbed from the Italians); sea bass with tomatoes, olives and fennel; beef short ribs with roasted cauliflower; and fork-tender skewered free-range lamb loin.

The owners call the Greek, in the former Commissary space, three restaurants in one. They say they get a pre-event crowd when something’s popping in the Arts District, then the place slows down until after hours. (Fridays and Saturdays are usually hopping.) Their message to you: If it’s 8 p.m. on a weeknight, you can almost always get a choice table here. Good cocktails, too.